A Date With Mommy

On Sunday I took Elliot to his first theatrical performance, a show called ZooZoo at the Strathmore Theater. We had a wonderful time! Before the show we had lunch at Le Madeline. Elliot was the perfect dining companion. During lunch we talked about the play we were going to see and how to be a good theater goer:
-Sit still in your seat
-Listen and watch carefully
-Whisper if you have a question
-Clap when its time to clap

After lunch we headed to the theater to pick up our tickets at Will Call. Elliot was very patient while we waited in the very long line. Elliot wanted to hold his own ticket and did a great job handing it to the ticket taker, and the usher when we needed help finding our seats.

Before the show the theater was buzzing with activity. There were a lot of children in attendance and most of them were literally bouncing off the walls. Elliot sat down right away and told me that he was "being a very patient boy". When the show started he was mesmerized! He sat perfectly still and didn't take his eyes off the stage. He also clapped very enthusiastically when it was time to clap.

During the intermission I told him we should get up and stretch our legs. He said he didn't want to because he didn't want to miss any of the show.  When the performance was over the actors invited parents and kids to the stage to ask questions. Elliot was gung ho to go but chickened out when we got the the stage and saw the actual size of the actors.

On our way home we talked about our favorite parts of the show. Elliot liked the anteaters and the snake. I liked the penguins. You can see excerpts of the performance here.

Signs of Spring

In addition to the daffodils and pink buds on the trees, one of my favorite signs of Spring is a busy playground. We spent lots of time outside this weekend and ended the day on Sunday with a trip to the little playground a couple of blocks from our house. Beatrice was in awe of her big brother's climbing and running skills and was eager to play on all of the equipment too. Her favorite thing was the slide. She is my little dare devil!

Parent Teacher Conference

This morning I attended my first parent teacher conference. Elliot has been going to a little pre-school in our neighborhood twice a week since September. Because Mariana usually takes him, I don't have much interaction with the teachers. It was nice to have a chance to site down and discuss Elliot's progress. Especially since his teacher, Mrs. M., had so many nice things to say about him. I plan to save all of Elliot's report cards, and I'll probably post them here - since this is basically our family scrapbook. That is until he gets a bad grade or begs me not to.

I am so proud of my boy! I was also happy to hear that he loves and excels at art. Mariana was shocked that his teacher wrote that he is an "awsome help at clean up". We may have to get some tips from Mrs. M. It has been so fun to watch Elliot grow and change over the last year. He has weathered all of the change in his life (new house, new baby, new school, new au pair) wonderfully and really is a "smart, caring, and confident" guy.

Junior Aviators

Elliot, Beatrice and Mariana met up with Gus, Elsa and Ricky (au pair) at the Air and Space Muesum last Friday. Gus's mom sent me this picture today. Can you tell they had fun?

This past weekend we headed down to Williamsburg to spend some time with Mimsey and Gramps. Mommy and Mimsey shopped, Daddy and Gramps played golf (Daddy did some shopping too), Elliot played cars and trucks, and Beatrice got lots of love a tummy time.

Actually Elliot did a lot more than just "play cars and trucks", which is always his response to the questions "what did you do today?" or "what would you like to do?" He fed the fish, explored the yard, woods and beach; and went shopping with Mommy, Mimsey and Beatrice. While we were out an about we encountered Geoffrey, the Toys R Us Giraffe. Elliot was very excited about the Giraffe, but also very scared. He begged me to hold him when we approached Geoffrey, I swear he had his legs wrapped around me so tight that my arms weren't doing a thing to hold him up.

"Farnum, party of four"

Elliot doesn't like to eat. Its not that he's a picky eater, he'll try most things. Its just that he doesn't like to take time out of his very busy play schedule to bother with food. I am always trying new and creative ways to get him interested in food (without feeding him ice cream for every meal - that he'll eat). Last week I discovered that he likes when his toys pretend to eat his food and lately, he has been playing pretend throughout the day with a few of his favorite stuffed animals. So when it came time for dinner the other day and he said he was playing with his animals, I told him the animals were hungry too. He was very excited about this, especially when everyone sat down to eat their dinner. Elliot and his friends has blueberries, pancakes, and chocolate milk. Yes, I know that doesn't sound like the healthiest of dinners but everyone cleaned their plates.

The Summer the AC Died

Dear Elliot and Beatrice, I doubt that either of you will remember much about the last five days of the summer of 2010. I on the other hand, will always remember this as the Summer the AC died...while Daddy was on a business trip, forcing us to become nomads.

Last week it got very hot in our house. We were in the middle of a record setting heat wave (102 + all week) and our air conditioner stopped working. We stayed in the house for one night and decided that we'd had enough. After a night a Mommy's cousin David's house (thank goodness for family), and news that it would be another three days before the AC would be fixed, we packed up and headed to Williamsburg. Five hours later we arrived at Mimsey and Gramp's house. Unfortunately Mimsey and Gramps were still enjoying their vacation in CO. Elliot, this made you very sad so we decided to stay through Monday night so that you could see Mimsey and Gramps after they got home on Sunday night.

Although it wasn't planned, we had a very nice trip. I went to the office in Richmond while you and Beatrice spent time with Mariana (our wonderful au pair). Over the weekend we played at the beach and went to the Virginia Living museum. Beatrice, you spent most of your time sleeping while Elliot had a great time exploring and making new discoveries. As I write this we are back home in Silver Spring, MD and we are all looking forward to sleeping in our own beds!

Lost my camera and track of time...

Sorry for the lack of posts over the last few weeks. Our lives have been actioned packed and I swear I have been documenting every moment, and I would post pictures from all of those moments if I had not left my camera at my cousin's house over a week ago. Thankfully my sister and mother-in-law have sent enough photos to give you a taste of our adventures. More to come.

The most exciting news to share is that our Au Pair, Marianna, has arrived from Brazil. She has been with us for three weeks now and things are going very well. Elliot is in love and Beatrice is quite content in her arms. Marianna has been quite the trooper, as the basement remodel is not exactly complete (hopefully it will be on Friday). As part of the remodel the kids will have a big playroom to spend their days in. Since I am working from home, this will make all of our lives easier.

Shortly after Mariana's arrival Beatrice and I left for Colorado to attend Stacey Farnum's (sister in law) baby shower. Stacey is having twins in July and we are all very excited about having two more cousins. Beatrice was a great traveler and we had great time hanging out with Grammy, Papa, Uncle Joe, and Aunt Stacey.

About a day after we returned home from Colorado, we all took a little trip to Williamsburg (everyone but Daddy). I was able to spend two days in the office in Richmond (my first week back after maternity leave), Elliot and Mariana spent their days riding the golf cart and playing at the beach, and Beatrice had lots of time with her Mimsey.

We went directly from Williamsburg to my grandmother's, Mom-Mom, 90th birthday celebration. Most of my cousins and aunts and uncles on my dad's side (the Heller family) were there. It was great seeing everyone and Elliot had a blast playing with his third cousins (my cousins' kids). His first cousin, Natalie, was also in attendance. She and Beatrice are 2 weeks a part. Of course we dressed them up in matching outfits and took lots of pictures.

Last weekend we went to a cookout to celebrate the engagement of two friends and say good bye to two others who are moving to Nebraska. The party was hosted by the McGinty family. They also have a newborn and a 2 1/2+ year old, Connor. Needless to say Elliot had a great time playing with Connor and Beatrice enjoyed being passed around and snuggled.

Phew... that's a lot of stuff. Enjoy the pictures, I promise to post more as soon as I get my camera back.